Capt. Erika Procopio, right, is held by Marion Gray before a deployment ceremony in Burlington, Vt., Friday, Dec. 11, 2009. Procopio and members of the 1st of the 172nd cavalry squadron are headed to Camp Atterbury, Ind., part of a 1,500-strong contingent of Vermont National Guard members headed to Afghanistan. Procopio lost her husband, 2nd Lt. Mark Procopio of Burlington when he was killed Nov. 2007 by a homemade bomb while on patrol in Ramadi. Gray lost her stepson, Sgt. Jamie Gray, 29, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in June 2004.
(AP Photo/Toby Talbot)